"Since you're late, drink this cup first!" The Conqueror King once again ladled a full scoop of wine from the barrel using the ladle that had been shared by three people and offered it to Goldie.
"I heard that mad dog Berserker was taken out by you guys teaming up?" Goldie took the wine but didn't drink it immediately. Instead, he sniffed it under his nose. Then, with a look of disdain, he moved the wine away and looked at the Conqueror King with utter scorn. "What is this crudely made, cheap wine? You're actually using this stuff to entertain a king? Do you really think you can test a hero's caliber with this?"
Consider that Goldie often sneaks into Mapo's house to steal wine, and Mapo has quite a collection of '82 Lafite. Naturally, Goldie would turn his nose up at wine the Conqueror King bought randomly on the street.
Simply put, this guy is just pretentious. But with his Golden Rule: A, even if he's pretentious, he can never spend all his money.
"Really? But I think this wine is pretty good. It's one of the top wines around here." The Conqueror King took the ladle back from Goldie with an aggrieved look, rubbed his chin, drank the wine in one gulp, and smacked his lips.
As a rough man, what mattered to the Conqueror King wasn't what kind of wine he drank, but who he drank with. So his requirements for wine didn't reach Goldie's level of harshness. As for Artoria, although she could drink, she didn't have any requirements for wine either, because knights generally didn't like heavy drinking.
Meruem didn't say a word, glancing at Goldie and waiting for what he would say next. I'll just quietly watch you act cool.
Sorry, but when it comes to wine, Meruem can drink it, but he doesn't like it. Besides, these guys are drinking either grape wine or red wine. If Meruem pulled out a pot of "Nu'er Hong" right now, would they like it?
"That's because you don't know what good wine is, mongrels." Sure enough, Goldie spoke with an abnormally aggravating sense of superiority.
As he spoke, a golden light flashed by Goldie's hand, and a glittering golden flagon was taken out from the Gate of Babylon.
Golden again... how much do you like gold?
He casually tossed a few golden cups to the Conqueror King. "This is the only chance you'll have in this life to taste such fine wine."
"This really is top quality!" The Conqueror King accepted the flagon and cups with joy, completely filtering out Goldie's aggro-filled words. Artoria and Meruem simply ignored him directly.
"Sit down, Goldie. Or do you plan to stand while drinking with us?" After pouring the wine, the Conqueror King looked at Goldie, who was still standing with no intention of sitting on the ground with them, and spoke with slight dissatisfaction.
"Mongrels... not everyone is qualified to sit with this king." Goldie's words pointed elsewhere. "That mongrel over there... I originally thought you were someone this king could acknowledge, but I didn't expect you to turn into a nanny now. She... is not qualified to sit here."
Goldie was referring to Sakura, who was leaning in Meruem's arms, looking at everyone curiously.
Facing Goldie's sudden hostility, Meruem wasn't surprised.
But Meruem had no intention of compromising.
"Whether she's qualified isn't up to you—it's up to me," Meruem said, looking at Goldie seriously, his aura suddenly rising.
Meruem didn't really care where Sakura was, but as a king, he absolutely could not compromise with another king at this moment, regardless of right or wrong. Once he backed down, his momentum would deflate.
The two faced off in the castle garden, and for a moment, the atmosphere became extremely tense. A fight could break out at any time.
"Heh, interesting." Unexpectedly, Goldie was the first to speak. Looking at Sakura and Meruem, he suddenly thought of himself and a certain long-haired, green-haired friend. "This king will be benevolent and allow her to sit here for now. But mongrel, don't get too carried away. For offending this king, I will personally punish you when the time comes."
"If you can do it." Seeing Goldie back down, Meruem didn't push too hard. He thought a fight was inevitable, but Goldie inexplicably called a truce. That was fine too; he hadn't come here to fight today anyway.
"Both of you, let's stop here. Let's taste the fine wine Goldie brought." Raising his golden cup, the Conqueror King downed the wine in one gulp.
"This truly is excellent wine!" Not only the Conqueror King, but even Artoria couldn't help praising the wine. Meruem smacked his lips and didn't feel much—just tasted like very good grape juice. While the others weren't looking, Meruem secretly let the eager-looking Sakura have a sip.
"Whether wine or sword, this king only possesses the best." Receiving everyone's affirmation, Goldie began to act cool invisibly again. "Hmph, precisely because of this, this king possesses the greatest caliber to obtain the Holy Grail."
"Don't get it wrong, Goldie. I admit your nectar matches fine wine, but obtaining the Holy Grail isn't that simple. First, you must clarify what your wish for the Holy Grail is." The Conqueror King was the first to disagree with Goldie.
"Hmph, mongrel, don't push your luck. Strictly speaking, that thing was mine to begin with. All treasures in the world come from my treasury, and the Holy Grail is no exception." Sipping his wine lightly, Goldie said unhurriedly.
"That's a bit of an overstatement. At most, the treasures of this world come from your treasury. As for 'all treasures in the world'... heh, this world is vast beyond your imagination." The Gate of Babylon indeed possesses endless Noble Phantasms, but... those can only be considered Noble Phantasms of the FATE world. Saying "all treasures in the world" is indeed too much of an exaggeration. For example: Do you have the scouters from the Dragon Ball world? What about the Z Sword? The Dragon Balls? The Truth-Seeking Balls from the Naruto world? Do you have those artifacts from the Saint Seiya world?
"So you're saying you've possessed the Holy Grail before?" The Conqueror King emptied his cup again, secretly refilled it, and asked. "Then you must know what the Holy Grail looks like?"
"I don't know. Don't measure me with a mongrel's eyes. My wealth is beyond your imagination. Even I don't know how many treasures I possess, but since it's a 'treasure,' it must be one of my collections." Goldie said matter-of-factly, completely ignoring the Conqueror King's baffled look and Meruem's "MDZZ" (Are you retarded?) expression.
"Taking my things out casually... as thieves, you really are bold."
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